In the renovation and repair of industrial buildings, such as factories and warehouses, it is often necessary to remove existing floor coverings. These floor coverings can be of a great variety of materials, such as rugs, wood, tile, etc. which are secured to a cement floor by high strength adhesive. The removal of such floor coverings is a labor intensive and difficult task. The machines currently available take the form of hand or motor driven scrapers which push a heavy duty scraping blade over the floor to raise the floor covering.
A machine of this type which is designed specifically for tile removal is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,641,206. The machine of the '206 patent employs an hydraulic cylinder to raise and lower the blade into engagement with the floor. The force distribution requires supplemental weights at the front and back of the machine to increase the force response of the blade and to insure proper traction on the rear wheel. Such machines do not perform efficiently, thereby requiring repetitive passes over the floor.
It is the purpose of this invention to improve the performance of a tile scrapping machine and the overall operation of such machines.